Once upon a time, we had 'gendarmes' with white sticks and a whistle for 'traffic control' on all major town cross-sections. Now we have traffic lights (not always better, in case anybody wants to make that point).
We have autopilots, we have automatic landing, we have TCAS. Isn't it about time, that airport ground movement control made it out of the stone age as well?
Or do we need another Tenerife to wake up everybody?
Autopilot will not drive anytime soon, because driving is more difficult to automate than flying.
But anyway, there are lots of gadgets to regulate road traffic and avoid accidents:
I really don't understand why all this is not used on aircraft and in airports. What is so difficult about installing traffic lights at hot spots, to be activated by ground controller? Traffic lights or even bars, as on the second picture, at the entrance to the runway? Parking sensors or cameras on wingtips? I'm sure a couple of these would be much much cheaper than having to repair the CRJ's tail...